SPCRN (Scottish Primary Care Research Network)

News

ReSeT Guidance Documents

New guidance (ReSeT) to replace ARCO (Attributing the revenue costs of extrernally-funded non-commercial research in the NHS) was issued in March 2010 with a planned implementation date of September 2010. In May, following consultation between the English Department of Health (DH) and research funding partners on the implementability of the new guidance, it was decided not to proceed with implementation. DH intends to continue discussion with its partners to agree on an approach that builds on the original principles of attribution set out in 1997. A meeting will be held in September between the 4 health departments to discuss the way forward. CSO is committed to reaching a national, workable resolution to this matter and will keep key stakleholders informed of developments. In the meantime, the existing ARCO guidance should continue to be consulted.

For further information please see website: Attributing revenue costs of externally funded non-commercial research in the NHS (ARCO)

SSPC Annual Conference 2011

The SSPC Annual Conference will take place on 19th & 20th April 2011 at Raddison Blu Hotel, Edinburgh. The conference focuses on International Primary Care research and will be an ideal opportunity to sample the breadth of research activity of relevance to primary care, and network with research minded colleagues from across the world.

Key note speakers:

  • Professor Carmel Hughes, Chair of Primary Care Pharmacy at the Queens University in Belfast
  • Professor Jan de Maeseneer, Head of the General Practice and Primary Health Care Department at Ghent University in Belgium
  • Dr Merrick Zwarenstein, Senior Scientist at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto
  • Professor Jane Gunn, Chair of Primary Care Research and Head of the Department of General Practice at the University of Melbourne and also SSPC Visiting Professor

For more info and booking forms please contact Laura Wilkie on 01382 420025.

SPCRN Funding

The Chief Scientist Office which funds SPCRN have recently agreed a 2 year rolling budget at a level of £370K per annum until 31 March 2011 subject to annual review of network performance against deliverables. The budget will now include the salary of the network clinical lead, the network manager and database administrator in line with the other topic specific research networks funded in Scotland. In addition, SPCRN will continue to administer the Service Support cost budget for primary care research on behalf of CSO after a successful pilot period in 2009.

ISPOR Conference, Paris

SPCRN recruitment expertise was promoted recently as Dundees Health Informatics Centre joined over 70 organisations exhibiting at the 12th Annual European Congress of ISPOR in Paris from 25 to 27 October 2009. The conference, which was held at Le Palais des Congres de Paris, attracted more than 2700 international registrants. Duncan Heather (HIC Operations Manager) and Alison Bell (HIC Data Analyst/ Programmer) were accompanied at the event by Professor Peter Donnan (Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics) who was representing the Dundee Epidemiology and Biostatistics Unit (DEBU).

A poster was displayed at the booth under the SSPC banner which illustrated the support SPCRN had given to the Bells Palsy study that won the BMJ Research Paper of the Year 2009, and outlined the research support available through the network.

Commercial Studies

Commercial studies SPCRN was established to recruit GP practices and patients into academically-led studies; as a consequence of the UK Clinical Research Collaboration, research networks across the UK are being encouraged by funders to increase the amount of commercially funded research that it is adopted. SPCRN and the Scottish Medicines for Children Research network co-adopted a study in 2009 funded by GSK examining the Incidence, clinical and economic burden of acute otitis media (AOM) in a cohort of 0-5 year old in Europe. SPCRN has recruited GP practices in NHS Grampian and Tayside to the study and the data collection is on-going.

SPCRN have recently adopted a study being undertaken by Servier Laboratories LTD entitled CLARIFY (Prospective observational longitudinal registry of patients with stable coronary artery disease registry). In addition to recruiting a number of GP practices in NHS Tayside, Fife, Greater Glasgow and Clyde and NHS Highland, SPCRN have also assisted Servier with obtaining NHS R&D approvals for the study through national Research Scotland (NRS).

ENGAGE is a multi-centre, multi-national randomised controlled trial that has been adopted locally in the South East (Edinburgh only) by the Scottish Primary Care Research Network (SPCRN). The study is comparing Warfarin with a study drug for efficacy and safety in patients with Atrial Fibrillation (AF). Recruitment is taking place mainly in secondary care, but we are conducting a trial of recruitment in primary care to see if we can contribute to patient numbers into the trial. On average, patients will take part in this study for about 2 years and be seen for follow-up at the New Royal Infirmary by Professor David Newby's team. If this new drug proves to be a good alternative for warfarin then, after the new drug has been approved by the authorities, this new drug would reduce the need for regular blood tests and so might be more convenient to take than Warfarin.


Scottish School of Primary Care